Cooper & Elliott Blog

When beginning the process of buying a car, you go in with an idea of what you want and what is available. You research makes and models and learn about what they offer—you might even visit a dealership and do test drives. “Shopping” for an attorney is more complex. You don’t really know what “features” you will need or what kind of questions you should ask.

If you are in need of a civil litigation attorney, chances are your frame of mind is teetering between stress and anger and perhaps even grief. All you really know is what you want in the end: justice.

Once in a while, we’re asked, “What makes your law firm different from any other?” It’s a fair question. Sure, we can talk about what we do that makes our firm different—but it’s how we do it that’s more important.

Most law firms talk ‘what,’ not ‘how’

When prospective clients ask what makes us different from other law firms, it’s difficult to make that comparison. But we do know there is a difference—an important difference—that comes across when we face other attorneys in negotiations and in the courtroom.

It’s the difference between “what” and “how.”

Most legal firms are happy to tell you all about “what” they do: the cases they take, the number of cases they’ve won, the expertise they will bring to your case. That’s all fine, and even necessary. But we think it’s more important to talk about “how” we do our job, and what clients can expect when working with us.

The differentiating “how” for us is two-fold: how we get the information that makes or breaks a case, and how we relate to our clients.

Tenaciously pursuing facts

When you’re going into battle, there is no such thing as having too much ammunition. In civil litigation, the same is true with information—it’s the ammunition we bring to fight for our clients’ causes. We always want more information, and we nearly always have to dig to find it. (And then dig some more.)

We take nothing for granted. We never really know where information will lead us until we start digging. We try to interview every potential witness and talk with every expert who can help us gain insights that opposing counsel may not have.

We push for every document we can get. For example, we represented a family in a wrongful death case that involved an emergency unit that responded to the wrong address. At first, we were told that critical documents no longer existed. But we weren’t satisfied with that answer and continued to push for information. When the defendants started pointing fingers of blame at each other, those documents “miraculously” appeared.

We also make site visits. If a case involves an automobile accident, we go to the site of the crash. We want to be at that intersection, see the traffic and landmarks that our client experienced. We want to understand what happened better than the opposing attorneys (who, often, haven’t been there at all).

Behind every case is a person

When we represent businesses that have been victimized by neglect or fraud, we keep in mind that behind every business is a business owner, employees, and their families. In each case, there are real people who have suffered harm they didn’t deserve.

The same is true in wrongful death cases. We represent grieving survivors who are trying to put their lives back together, often financially as well as emotionally. It’s not just a matter of applying the law to achieve justice. We’re in the business of helping people heal their lives.

It means understanding our clients on a deeper level—their lives, their relationships, the pain they’ve endured. In one case, we visited the grave site of a young boy who had been killed when an unsecured stove tipped over onto him. We saw toys and other mementos placed at the grave by the family, and that gave us the opportunity to ask about those special things and learn more about the family and the child they had lost.

Our professional DNA aligns with the Golden Rule. We ask ourselves important, fundamental questions: How would we want to be represented? If we were the victims, how far would we want our civil litigation attorney to go for our case? How much time and commitment would we want them to dedicate to our healing?

That’s not just our practice. It’s who we are.

Give us a call—we’re here to help.

The outcome of any client’s case will depend on the particular legal and factual circumstances of the case.